[Diagnosis and assessment of anxiety disorders]

Anxiety disorders tend to become chronic if untreated and often have considerable social consequences. Therefore, early recognition of anxiety disorders at the primary health care level is of great importance. This article gives a short overview of important aspects of the diagnosis of anxiety disorders in general medical practice. Panic disorder, generalised anxiety disorder and phobic disorders are describer and phobic disorders are described based on ICD-10 criteria. Anxiety disorders have important differential diagnostic distinctions from somatic disorders and other psychiatric disorders. A diagnosis of panic disorder can be easily missed if physical symptoms are predominant. Also, there is a high comorbidity with depressive disorders, substance-abuse and -dependence and suicidality. Furthermore, during the assessment procedure the topics of psychosocial life situations, social effects and earlier treatments should be investigated.